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Gay marriage is now legal in Buenos Aires after President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner signed the bill into law last week. Perhaps the best headline I saw about this was, “Argentina approves gay divorce.” 🙂 Here’s what else is making news over the past week:

Argentine Peso Gets Lift From Record Soy Harvest as Volatility Gauge Sinks [Bloomberg] Argentine currency traders are reducing expectations for peso fluctuations to the lowest since March as a record soybean harvest swells export revenue in South America’s second-biggest economy. Economists predict it will weaken to 4.2 per dollar by year-end, according to the median of 13 estimates in a Bloomberg survey. The consensus forecast was 4.5 per dollar a year ago.

Buenos Aires on a leash [The Christian Science Monitor] Argentine dogs live a life of pampered sophistication in this elegant city as dog walkers can earn more than teachers here.

BA Construction Activity Rises 10% [InvestBA] Recent headlines regarding Buenos Aires real estate sales activity have been improving steadily this year, and La Nación says builders are starting to feel equally optimistic. During the first five months of 2010, the construction industry posted a 10% increase in new projects under development, while the sale of condominiums and single-family homes advanced 7.1%, according to the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE).

Lower Congress Approves Glacier Protection Law [The Argentina Independent] After 12 hours of debate, Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies approved a law that would limit mining and oil drilling activity in the country’s Andean ice fields on Thursday morning. The legislation’s provisions are similar to a glacier protection law that President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner controversially vetoed in 2008.

Maradona to continue as Argentina coach [AP] Diego Maradona will reportedly remain as coach of Argentina’s national team, a decision he is expected to announce next week after meeting with Argentine Football Association president Julio Grondona.

What’s the deal with Buenos Aires? [NY Post] Argentina’s capital is overhyped, overcrowded and terrifically annoying. It also might be one of the best places you’ll ever visit.

Private Parking Lots Forced To Offer Space For Bikes In Buenos Aires [TreeHugger] In a city where bike theft is a very good reason to make you doubt about riding somewhere, providing parking facilities is almost as important as creating new bike paths. This is the case in Buenos Aires (and many cities around the world), and the reason why it’s so good to hear that the government has pushed a new law to provide several bike-parking facilities, including spaces inside private parking lots at lower rates. If you ride in Buenos Aires or are thinking about doing it, you need to read this.

The biggest news by far in the past week is that Argentina has approved gay marriage, making it the first country in Latin America to do so. The bill was passed by the senate after much debate and opposition by the Catholic church in the country. It is expected to be signed into law shortly. Gay couples now have the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts, including the right to adopt children. The passing of this bill makes Argentina one of the most liberal countries in the world and is sure to enhance its reputation for being a gay-friendly tourist destination.

Argentina legalizes gay marriage [Los Angeles Times] Argentina on Thursday became the first nation in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage, turning aside protests from the Roman Catholic Church to give gay couples the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts.

Doctor: Maradona OK and mulling choices [USA Today] Maradona’s doctor said Monday the Argentina coach was doing well and had not slipped back into using drugs and alcohol since his team was eliminated from the World Cup with a 4-0 loss to Germany in the quarterfinals. (whew!).

Garbage Disposal an Overpowering Problem in Buenos Aires [Latin American Herald Tribune] Buenos Aires has no idea what to do with its garbage – at least that seems to be the gist of the current controversy about what to do with all the trash in the Argentine capital, whose city dumps could collapse in two years from the increasing amount of waste it churns out.

Argentine ‘dirty war’ general gets life sentence [Associated Press] Some of the most notorious figures of Argentina’s “dirty war” were convicted Thursday of kidnapping, torturing and murdering 22 people at the beginning of the 1976-1983 military dictatorship when the country cracked down on leftist dissent.

Lawmaker proposes Maradona monument [AP] An Argentine legislator has proposed building a monument to honor Diego Maradona, whose future as coach of the national soccer team has been uncertain since it was eliminated in the World Cup quarterfinals by Germany.

Adoption Scandal: Argentina Hounds a High-Profile Mom [Time] This is the tale of the enmity of three women: the first is perhaps the richest in Argentina; the second is the President of the country; the third, a grandmother in search of the children of desaparecidos,” the 30,000 or so mostly young people who disappeared in the military junta’s death camps from 1976 to 1983. The object of their contention are two adopted children, a brother and a sister, who stand to inherit an immense fortune — or see it shrink if their genes betray a past that might help dramatically diminish their mother’s business empire.

Argentina claims victory on bond deal [Inquirer.net] More than two-thirds of Argentina’s creditors have accepted a deal with Buenos Aires ending their long-running debt dispute, the Economy Ministry said Monday.

Argentina’s Government Vows To Maintain Stakes In Companies [Fox Business] Argentina’s government says it has no plans to sell the stakes in local companies that it inherited when it nationalized private-sector pension funds in late 2008, as it would damage the interests of both the state and the companies.

Honda to start making automobiles in Argentina in 2011 [More Tech News] Honda will start manufacturing automobiles in Argentina in 2011, when the Japanese automaker”s plant opens in Campana, a city on the outskirts of Argentine capital Buenos Aires, company executives said.

Argentina winning its group in the World Cup and advancing to the Round of 16 has been the biggest local news this week. And of course Landon Donovan’s amazing goal for the USA which put them into the final sixteen as well, but hey, this is a Buenos Aires blog. (Still, this game was amazing!) So, here’s some interesting news this week:

Pepsi To Go Naked If Argentina Wins The World Cup [AdAge] In a brilliant bit of marketing, Pepsi has announced that it too will “go naked” as Argentine coach Diego Maradona promised, if Argentina wins the World Cup. Pepsi announced that the company’s soft drink bottles will be sold for a week in Argentina with no label if that country wins the soccer tournament.

Is it madness to love Diego Maradona? [MailOnline] He bounces up and down on the touchline with that silver beard and bottle-black hair… Wild-eyed with rage and waving imaginary cards in one moment, kissing and hugging his players in happy tears the next, the madness of Diego Maradona is there for all to see… But there’s no taking your eyes off him. And the craziest thing of all is that it actually seems to be working.

These walls can speak [Sydney Morning Herald] If you believe everything you read, Buenos Aires is a city of sexy, pouting Latinos who dance the tango on every street corner, eat steak morning and night and are born with a football attached to their toes. I’m hoping to experience something far from the cliches and sign up for a Graffiti Mundo tour to explore the street art of the city’s northern suburbs.

Argentine rights leader defends DNA database [AP] Argentina’s leading newspaper publisher must pay the consequences if genetic tests show the children she adopted three decades ago were stolen from prisoners of the dictatorship, a leading human rights activist says.

Amnesty International Expresses Concern over Women’s Rights in Argentina [The Argentimes] Expressing concern over the death of Miriam Flores, a migrant worker from Paraguay, Amnesty International Argentina announced in a press release its continued support of the enforcement of Law 26.485, and demanded that President Christina Fernández “assume as a priority the situation of violence against women” in Argentina.

As one may expect, there was a lot of World Cup related news this week. However, there was also a lot of other interesting Buenos Aires news, so I have quite a list today. And remember, you can follow Buenos Aires Life on Twitter to get instant access to BA-related news and happenings.

Argentina nabs alleged Colombian money launderer [Associated Press] A suspected Colombian drug trafficker who operated under the radar for years in Argentina was arrested as he walked near a Buenos Aires shopping mall. He was living under an assumed identity in a suburban neighborhood.

Argentina inflation slows slightly in May [Reuters] Argentine consumer price inflation slowed slightly to 0.7 percent in May as food prices eased, the government said on Friday, but analysts said the real rate was nearly twice as high.

Buenos Aires mayor finds laws apply to him, too [CNN] Mauricio Macri, the chief executive of Buenos Aires, Argentina, has been fined for riding a motorcycle without a helmet. He faces much larger legal trouble, having been indicted this year on charges of illegal wiretapping.

Argentine Nobelist Perez Esquivel recalls torture [AP] Adolfo Perez Esquivel, who won the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize for his work exposing abuses during Argentina’s military dictatorship, finally testified against his captors, describing his torture and crediting international pressure for saving his life.

World Cup 2010: Diego Maradona denied beef supply for Argentina team [Telegraph.co.uk] Agriculture officials put a stop to Maradona’s team’s plans to bring in steak supplies from home. “They never got a permit to bring the beef in. They wanted to, but it was declined,” a chef at the University of Pretoria centre said, adding that the flamboyant Argentine coach had failed to live up to his diva reputation so far.

Argentina May Move to Lift Capital Controls Post-Swap [Bloomberg] Argentina will likely move to lift capital controls following the conclusion of the country‚Äôs $18.3 billion debt swap, the head of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange said. Under regulations put in place under then-President Nestor Kirchner, international investors must deposit 30 percent of the funds they bring into Argentina with the central bank for a year.

Hollywood ending in Buenos Aires [The Guardian] The slums of Latin America are growing, but so is the local film industry, which is alive with productivity and homegrown talent. In Villa 21, one of Buenos Aires’ largest slums, ‘actor, producer, scriptwriter and most of all squatter’ Julio Arrieta sees culture as a way out of ignorance and unemployment.

Argentine Hake On the Brink of Collapse [IPS] The Argentine hake (merluza) fisheries of the southern Atlantic Ocean, among the world’s leaders in the white fish market, are on the verge of collapse due in part to the indifference of the Argentine people, who are apparently more interested in beef, a staple of their diet. The Wildlife Foundation issued a call this year for Argentines to avoid buying hake filets less than 25 centimeters long, in order to discourage the capture of small fish.

Complicated Tango for Argentina’s Coach and Star [The New York Times] They will remain bound through the rest of the World Cup: Maradona, 49, and Messi, soon to be 23. One perhaps the greatest soccer star ever, the other the best of his generation. One volatile, the other quiet. Both gripped in a complicated relationship with Argentina and with each other, dancing a mesmerizing soccer tango as Argentina seeks its first title since Maradona hoisted the trophy in 1986 with help from the so-called Hand of God.